IIHF Newshttp://www.iihf.com/
IIHF News from www.iifh.comenIIHF Newshttp://www.iihf.com/typo3conf/ext/tt_news/ext_icon.gifhttp://www.iihf.com/
1816IIHF News from www.iifh.comTYPO3 - get.content.righthttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssThu, 08 Dec 2016 15:06:00 +0100Canada tops women’s rankinghttp://www.iihf.com/competition/271/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6662
Overtakes USA in World Ranking thanks to gold in BurlingtonClick here to see the 2012 IIHF Women’s World Ranking.Click here for more information about the World Ranking system.

Canada overtakes the Unites States for the top position in the world ranking, which reflects the performance at Women’s World Championships and Olympic Winter Games in the last four years (2009-2012), with higher value placed on the most recent tournaments.

The United States claimed the top position in 2009 and 2011 while Canada has been leading the ranking in all other years since its introduction in 2004.

The ranking lists 36 countries that have participated with women’s national teams in IIHF events in the last four seasons and saw several other changes.

Switzerland advanced from sixth to fourth place after surprisingly winning its first ever bronze medal in women’s hockey on Saturday. The Swiss will now play among the top-four teams in the preliminary round of the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship in Ottawa, Canada, and at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

The Swiss success was at the expense of Sweden, which is now ranked fifth while Russia also lost a place and follows in sixth place.

These six teams receive an automatic bye for the Women’s Ice Hockey Tournament at 2014 Olympic Winter Games, which includes eight teams. The format of the Olympic tournament and the qualification process were approved by the 2011 IIHF Annual Congress last May.

The remaining two teams will be determined in the Olympic Qualification that includes the Final Olympic Qualification (two tournaments, 7-10 February 2013), the Olympic Pre-Qualification (two tournaments, 8-11 November 2012) and if required a preliminary qualification.

Slovakia and Germany, ranked seventh and eighth respectively, earned the right to host the Final Olympic Qualification tournaments thanks to their placement in the 2012 IIHF Women’s World Ranking.

]]>on topWorldsWomenIIHFOlympics2012 WWon right03 Canada20 United States19 SwitzerlandMon, 16 Apr 2012 14:00:00 +0200Ouellette wins it in OT for Canadahttp://www.iihf.com/competition/271/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6655
Canada survives penalties and blown lead to beat USA, 5-4photos and a highlight video of the game.
"Tessa Bonhomme was in front of the goalie and I screamed to Meghan [Agosta] for the puck. Yes, I can take credit for scoring, but Tessa made it happen by going to the net and taking everyone with her," Ouellette said. "I just had to shoot. It was incredible."
The play was set up by a fortuitous turnover collected by Agosta just inside the U.S. blue line and a shot through traffic. "That was the message from the coach," Ouellette continued. "Any shot is a good shot. I'll take it."
It was a game controlled by special teams during regulation. The Americans had three power-play goals while Canada had two and a short-handed goal.
The victory is the first for Canada at the Women's Worlds since 2007 and ends the terrific run of three in a row by the U.S. "We were really sick of silver," said Ouellette.
"The losses of the previous years were really weighing on us," captain Hayley Wickenheiser admitted. "None of us wanted to see that happen again. We stayed positive the whole game."
The win was especially satisfying for the Canadians given they were humiliated 9-2 on the opening day of the tournament. "We wanted to make sure we were more prepared," she said. "That game kept us on our toes."
"Hats off to Canada," said Hilary Knight. "They put the puck in the net at the end of the game." Knight had the OT winner a year ago for the U.S.
The first period was as tense and thrilling as any these teams have played, but what a difference a week makes. On opening night, the Americans had a 5-0 lead and chased the goalie by the five-minute mark. Tonight, the Americans didn’t even register their first shot on goal until after the seven-minute mark, by which time Canada had a 1-0 lead.
That lead came on a great effort by Hayley Wickenheiser during a U.S. power play. She blocked a point shot, controlled the puck, and roared down the ice, beating Molly Schaus with the shot. The goal seemed to shake up the American bench, and the home side dominated much of the rest of the period.
Canada ran into penalty trouble, earning four of the five minors handed out in the period which resulted in power plays. The Americans tied the game at 12:54 thanks to some great puck possession by Kendall Coyne and Amanda Kessel in the Canada end. Coyne banged the puck home with Shannon Szabados down and out, lifting the pro-American crowd out of their seats en masse.
Although the period ended 1-1, Szabados made the save of the tournament with just seconds left on the clock. The puck came out one side to the back where Coyne one-timed it towards an open cage, but the goalie shot her left pad out and kicked the puck clear, denying a sure goal.
The first 20 minutes was only brief prelude to a wild second period. Canada took the lead at 4:07 when Jayna Hefford banged in a loose puck on a power play, and a minute and a half later the visitors doubled the lead thanks to a great play by Caroline Ouellette. She drove to the net with the puck, took a shot and then got her own rebound, knocking the puck in.
At this point, the crowd was silent, dumbfounded by the reversal of fortunes from the first game, an easy 9-2 win for the U.S. The play grew in intensity and became physical, along the boards and in front of the net. Scrums ensued, and the bad blood between the two nations couldn’t be more evident.
But whereas the Americans kept their cool, the Canadians collapsed, taking three straight penalties in the latter half of the period. The U.S. pounced. Brianna Decker’s shot through traffic beat Szabados to make it 3-2, and then a minute and a half later Gigi Marvin deflected a point shot on another power play. The impressive lead Canada had carefully built up was now gone, along with any momentum and crowd control.
Penalties cost Canada again early in the third when Marvin got the puck to squirt over the goal line and give the U.S. another lead, 4-3. That goal looked to be the winner, but with 2:38 to go, Canada, with a man advantage of its own, tied the game on a goal from Agosta.
That set the stage for Ouellette's OT heroics.
"It was a great game, a physical game. Both teams showed up ready to play and gave the crowd a great game," Jenny Potter said.
NOTES: The All-Star Team consisted of Florence Schelling (SUI, goal), Gigi Marvin (USA) and Laura Fortino (CAN) on defence, and forwards Monique Lamoureux-Kolls (USA), Kelli Stack (USA), and Hayley Wickenheiser (CAN)...the Directorate Awards went to Schelling, Jenni Hiirikoski (FIN, defence), and Stack...the event set an attendance record for Women's Worlds held in the U.S. Total attendance was 26,205 for an average of 1,247 over the 21 games.
ANDREW PODNIEKS]]>on topon top03 Canada20 United StatesWorldsWomen2012 WWon lefton rightSat, 14 Apr 2012 23:59:00 +0200Swiss win first ever WW bronzehttp://www.iihf.com/competition/271/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6653
Compelling Schelling stops 50 shots in 6-2 win over Finlandon topon top06 Finland19 Switzerlandon lefton leftWorldsWomen2012 WWon rightSat, 14 Apr 2012 22:23:00 +0200Potter last player from 1998http://www.iihf.com/competition/271/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6649
Schmidgall a kid in Nagano, now Potter the oldest still playingCammi Granato (captain) — started Golden Dreams for Children Foundation. She also runs a hockey camp in Chicago for young girls during the summer and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010.
Angela Ruggiero — retired late last year and is focusing on her work with the IOC
Chris Bailey — became a hospital sales consultant
Laurie Baker (-Mutch) — married and moved to Massachusetts where she became the girls’ hockey coach at Browne and Nichols School
Alana Blahoski — taught power skating at Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers, New York City
Lisa Brown-Miller — lives in Holland, Michigan, with her husband and children and is the school quality assistant for the Grand Rapids corporate office of the National Heritage Academies
Karyn Bye (-Dietz) — worked for the Minnesota Wild with its grassroots program and also does colour commentating for the Minnesota Girls State High School Hockey Tournament. She was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2011.
Colleen Coyne — lives in Massachusetts and works as a marketing consultant for a startup software company. She was also elected to USA Hockey’s Executive Committee and serves on the board of directors for Celebrities for Charities.
Sara DeCosta — married with three children, she was a volunteer coach for the women's hockey team at Providence in 2002-03, and later became goaltending coach at Harvard
Tricia Dunn (-Luoma) — settled in Minnesota with husband Todd Luoma and works in pharmaceutical sales
Katie King — became an assistant hockey coach at Boston College in 2006, and a year later became the head coach at BC
Shelley Looney — works as the girl's hockey director for the New Jersey Colonials, an under-18 team
Sue Merz — worked in medical device sales and coaches the Connecticut Polar Bears, a junior team
A.J. Mleczko (-Griswold) — settled in the Boston area with her husband and became a stay-at-home mom
Tara Mounsey — became a nurse practitioner at New England Baptist Hospital and coaches the Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Vicki Movsessian (-Lamoriello) — married to Chris Lamoriello, son of New Jersey Devils’ GM, Lou, and settled in Rhode Island raising two children. She is also the founder of the Massachusetts Spitfires, a girls team.
Sarah Tueting — graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in neurobiology and later worked in corporate development for Medtronic
Gretchen Ulion (-Silverman) — graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in history and a masters’ degree in education, and later taught at Pingree School, Massachusetts
Sandra Whyte (-Sweeney) — became a hockey coach at Reading High School in Massachusetts
Ben Smith (coach) — retired and is now a consultant and ambassador for USA Hockey
ANDREW PODNIEKS]]>on topon top20 United Stateson leftWorldsWomen2012 WWon lefton righton rightSat, 14 Apr 2012 15:41:00 +0200Germany up, Slovakia downhttp://www.iihf.com/competition/271/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6646
Holmlov's OT goal gives Sweden 5thRussia-Sweden (0-1, 0-0, 1-0, 0-1)
Elin Holmlov’s goal 34 seconds into overtime gave Sweden a 2-1 win over Russia in the fifth-place game. In an odd twist, the Russians finished sixth in the tournament despite not winning a game, while Germany (seventh) and Slovakia (eighth) each won at least once.
Pernilla Winberg got things going for Sweden in the first, scoring the only goal of the opening period at 15:08 on the power play.
A goalless second period set the stage for a Russian comeback in the final period when Marina Sergina tied the game midway through to force the overtime.
ANDREW PODNIEKS]]>on righton top08 Germany16 Slovakia15 Russia18 Swedenon leftWorldsWomen2012 WWSat, 14 Apr 2012 14:41:00 +0200U.S. advances with 10-0 winhttp://www.iihf.com/competition/271/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6644
Schelling incredible, Swiss play for bronze for only second timeon topon top19 Switzerland20 United StatesWorldsWomen2012 WWon lefton lefton rightSat, 14 Apr 2012 02:42:00 +0200Canada back to gold gamehttp://www.iihf.com/competition/271/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6643
Finns will go for fifth straight bronze after 5-1 losson topon top03 Canada20 United Stateson lefton leftWorldsWomen2012 WWon rightFri, 13 Apr 2012 22:45:00 +0200Goyette sees bigger role for CIShttp://www.iihf.com/competition/271/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6639
Canadian universities should compete with NCAA for players03 Canada15 Russia20 United StatesWorldsWomen2012 WWon righton rightFri, 13 Apr 2012 14:50:00 +0200U18 critical to women’s gamehttp://www.iihf.com/competition/271/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6638
Started in 2008, junior tournament is a key to developmentWorldsWomenU182012 WWon righton lefton rightFri, 13 Apr 2012 14:49:00 +0200Meet the Rooks: Gizela Blomhttp://www.iihf.com/competition/271/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6637
Sweden’s newest power forward ready to rumbleWhen did you start skating? Why?I was about 5 or 6 years old when I started skating, mostly because of my brother who also played hockey.
Who was your first hockey hero? Why?I’m not sure, but I love Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin. They’re both really good players.
What was the name of your first team?Norrtalje. It’s was a little city where I played for the first ten years.
What made you want to take hockey seriously enough to play for the national team?I love to play hockey. It’s such a cool sport, and it’s fast. You’re skating and shooting. It’s just fun. I love the sport and everything about it, especially playing with the national team and the best players.
Why do you wear number 29?No. I was just given 29, but with AIK I was always 27. Number 7 was always my favourite, but I see 27 everywhere. It’s my number.
Any pre-game superstitions?Sort of. I do the same thing before every game. I have the same routine and do the same warmup.
What’s on your iPod?Pretty hard music like Guns ‘n’ Roses or Motley Crue.
What do you remember about your first game with the national team?It was a fabulous feeling. I had always dreamed about it, so I was pretty nervous. It was fun. I had a few shifts with Maria Rooth on the same line. She’s a great player, so that was awesome. The tournament was in Finland, and we played Germany.
What’s your career highlight to date?I have a lot of them. I’ve won a lot of Swedish championships with AIK. And, of course, all the things with the national team. When we beat Canada this year for the first time with me on the team, and I scored, that was pretty amazing.
What’s your greatest strength and biggest weakness?I’m pretty fast. I’m sort of a power forward. For weakness…I’m not sure. There are so many things I want to do better.
Who on your team do you most admire? Why?Elin Holmlov. She’s a great stickhandler and you never know what she’s going to do. She’s a great player.
What do you want to do after your playing career?I don’t know yet because I’m focused on hockey for a few more years and going to a few more World Championships and the Olympics. That’s my goal, so I’m not planning for anything after hockey yet.
Finish this sentence. This will be a great tournament if……we win a medal before we go home.
ANDREW PODNIEKS]]>on top18 Swedenon righton rightWorldsWomen2012 WWFri, 13 Apr 2012 14:39:00 +0200